I went to Trader Joe's tonight to pick up some soup for my inexplicably queasy stomach, and I saw two very enthusiastic, 20-something volunteers for the Red Cross by the entrance, clutching their clipboards and braying at every person that walked by.
FEMALE VOLUNTEER: Hi there! We'd love to talk to you about the Red Cross!
MALE VOLUNTEER: We totally would! Today we are--
Me: Okay, guys, stop. I'm not interested.
MALE VOLUNTEER: There are a lot of ways--
Me: You guys don't accept blood from gay men who are... sexually active.
FEMALE VOLUNTEER: Well, I'm a lesbian, so--
MALE VOLUNTEER: No, that's not true, that's the FDA and all we'd do is just test--
FEMALE VOLUNTEER: That's right, all it is is a test--
MALE VOLUNTEER [holding up clipboard]: There are other ways you can donate--
Me: Look guys, you have a ban against it. So if you can't have that, I don't feel comfortable...
FEMALE VOLUNTEER: No, we understand.
And I then walked into the Trader Joe's, adding "severe anger" to my already upset stomach.
For the uninitiated, the Food and Drug Administration has had a ban on sexually active gay men giving blood since 1983. So, for all practical purposes, I've never been able to donate blood. Ever. I'm HIV-. I practice safe sex. I'm so squeamish about hypodermics I've never had to worry about dirty needles. I take good care of myself. Put that all together and I'm the ideal candidate for blood donation. The one thing preventing me from doing so is the fact that I -- like millions of Americans -- actually have sex.
The FDA's reasoning of why I cannot donate blood is this:
A history of male-to-male sex is associated with an increased risk for the presence of and transmission of certain infectious diseases, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. FDA's policy is intended to protect all people who receive blood transfusions from an increased risk of exposure to potentially infected blood and blood products.
Presumably the reason is that gay men "have more sexual partners" than other people. We cannot donate blood because we're "sluts". But what about slutty heteros, you ask? The FDA has an answer to that, too:
Current scientific data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that, as a group, men who have sex with other men are at a higher risk for transmitting infectious diseases or HIV than are individuals in other risk categories. While statistics indicate a rising infection rate among young heterosexual women, their overall rate of HIV infection remains much lower than in men who have sex with other men.
HIV infection rates in the US have leveled off, so this whole reasoning is just BS. Couple this with the fact that blood donations are on the decline, it really makes you think that the FDA is just way behind the times on this. Senator John Kerry and several Democratic members of the House & Senate have sent a letter to the Department of Health & Human Services calling on the ban to be lifted. It's still in effect.
Outside of a press release put out two years ago, the Red Cross has done little to help try to lift the ban. (The headline on this story -- American Red Cross Fights Ban On Gays' Blood -- is erroneous, since the gentleman interviewed in the story is not associated with the Red Cross)
To ask me for money (which is what the volunteers were there for) but not want my money is just galling to me. Hey, Red Cross? You want my blood way more than I want to donate it. So, if you want me to donate my blood, you are going to have to fight for it. One limp press release won't cut it. Put out a PSA about this issue and give a big full-throated support of ending the ban and then we'll talk. Put your money where your mouth is or you won't be mine. Or my money.
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